


Three Unwise Men

by Arethereanydamnusernamesleft



Series: The Arrangement [2]
Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Disappointment, Forgiveness, M/M, Protective Peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-16 16:11:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16498787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arethereanydamnusernamesleft/pseuds/Arethereanydamnusernamesleft
Summary: A follow-up to The Arrangement: I had comments asking to see how Tony dealt with Steve, Rhodey and Happy after the dust settles.Written in Tony's First-Person as an experiment.





	Three Unwise Men

Cap was the first to show up, head already bent in boyish chastisement. Unfortunately for the big guy, Peter was home. Peter called the Tower home now, even though we’d only spent a couple of nights in my own bed.

During the last 48 hours, my husband to-be has secreted himself all over my Tower…

No… Our Tower.

There’s his green Hulk toothbrush in my en-suite, and I really need to have a word with him why a he’s picked an Avengers branded dental tool fashioned on a guy whose catch-phrase is ‘Smash’. I’m not jealous he doesn’t have the Iron-Man one, it just doesn’t seem healthy…

He’s entirely incapable of hanging up his own clothes and whether it’s a hoodie on his underpants they end up on the floor and I’m currently reprogramming Dum-E in the art clothes folding.

There’s math books in the kitchen and a Spanish Language quiz test book by the side of the toilet and the number of half drank cans of coke I’ve come across in the last 24 hours would surprise you.

And he’s somehow managed to adhere frosted flakes to the side of the toaster and yesterday he broke the waste-disposal by dropping a fork down it…

You know, when Pepper moved in to the Malibu house, anything slightly out of place irked me, and Pep has OCD on par with my own. But now I look at the comic book already slipping down the side of the sofa and headphone wires tangled beyond redemption on the coffee table and it gives me the strangest sense of warmth - like he’s coated this entire cold, clinical modernist décor in something intrinsically Peter and created a real home… and all just by making a damn mess.

In the villa, I’d put it down to the fact we were the only ones on the island, but no. Peter’s just a whirlwind of chaos coming into my life, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to resent the trail of t-shirt, socks and underpants that lead me to find Peter naked and tangled messily in my bed sheets. 

But anyway, enough of the Tin Man finding he had a heart all-along story, back to Cap.

Rogers and I had never really healed since the Barns revelation, and while I’d made my peace with the Winter Solider, the bond between Cap and I had been irrevocably damaged. But, let’s face it; we never really got off to a great start.

The punch I’d thought would be the nail in the coffin of our tentative truce, yet here he was, all blue check shirt and beige chinos, staring at his sneakers and hoping for forgiveness.

And there was one tiny part of me that valued that it was Peter that Cap had been trying to look out for, no matter how clumsily.

After the apology, I’d presented my best unaffected front, shrugging and giving a casual ‘Don’t worry about it,’ nonchalance, but he didn’t get away so easy with Peter.

My Pete had stood at my shoulder the entire visit, arms crossed, cold stare, as if ready to defend my honour once more. And this time, Roger’s looked wary.

“We may work together and fight side by side,” Pete had said, “but if you ever lay a finger on him again I’ll make sure you regret it.”

Yeah, I’m still feeling a bit mushy over that, and I realise I really do have a bit of a thing for Peter being over-protective.

When Steve had left the room, peace made and on friendly terms, I may have thrown myself at him and well… demanded he take me in a manly fashion.

Happy was the next visitor, and with this one I couldn’t be as blasé.

Happy seemed truly remorseful about the situation now he knew the truth, and I could have forgiven that, after all, we’d gone out of their way to make the crime look irrefutable. 

But there was something I couldn’t forgive and certainly not forget -he’d left Pepper vulnerable when she needed someone to trust the most. He’d resigned the same day as the Photos and video had come out, not the faked email implicating Pepper. Deserting me, I could understand, but not Pep.

Besides, James had earned his new gig as the CEO’s personal security and he figured she’d want to keep James beside her.

I saw Happy’s disappointment when I told him he wouldn’t be reclaiming his old role, but there was other work in Stark Industries that he could do. It was an uncomfortable end to our closeness, but Happy had crossed a line.

And then came Rhodey… Oh, Rhodey’s was the most difficult visit.

He’d tried to smooth over it with a ‘Hey, you understand, right!?’ – But I didn’t and I still don’t.

Rhodey had stood by me all those years – He’d gladly allied with the Merchant of Death and drank my champagne as I pedaled arms all over the globe. He’d congratulated me on designing more and more advanced way to separate men’s flesh from their bodies, and as it turned out, men’s, women’s and children’s.

He’d even fought my decision to stop making weapons on finding this out, but he had the hypocrisy to discard our friendship over photographs of a few kisses with a boy underage by a few days.

And the worst part? The worst part was he never even asked me if I was guilty, if there was an explanation – Just one simple statement -‘You’re not who I thought you were. Don’t contact me again.’

He’d assumed my guilt, and this particular crime wasn’t going to get him a promotion or kudos, so he’d bailed on me. He wasn’t looking out for Peter – He never contacted Peter, he was looking out for himself.

Well, it had turned out it was me who’d not truly known Rhodey, not the other way around.

When Pete got home he’d found me slumped on the floor in front of the bar, glass in hand and I’d cried my damn eyes out at the loss of a friendship that spanned back to our teens. He’d held me until I’d come to terms with it and I realised I had something much truer, now.

But I’m not going to end this monologue all maudlin. While some friendships have weakened or broken down irrevocably, others have burgeoned and strengthened.

My relationship with Wanda had been distant since the Sokovoia Accords and due to how we met, it had never been built on trust. But she’d shown her true colours when Pete and I needed her and was the only one who’d actually considered Peter’s opinion in the matter.

Vision, while remaining silent had stood with her and as Pete had pointed out a few nights later, his quiet sanction had been meaningful coming from a being that was worthy to wield Thor’s hammer.

And Nat… While her instant reaction had been to disembowel me on Peter’s behalf, that was part of her charm. She’d taken Pete under her wing from the start and she’d trusted us with only partial information despite the protective instincts she had for the kid. Something to do with spider allegiance I’m guessing. Who knows, but I’m already working on nanite baldes for her regardless.

So while the guest list for my wedding isn’t how I’d imagined it to be, Pep’s gonna make a damn fine best man.


End file.
